I've Always Known
by Dragoness of the Moon
Summary: What happens when a young Ruby follows a crow to her mother's grave? Qrow is not so secretly Ruby's father. Ruby knows but isn't telling. Qrow/Summer, trying to add some more positive fics to this ship!
1. Chapter 1

**So I've always been a _Qrow is Secretly Ruby's Dad_ fan since the day I was introduced to RWBY and in my recent week of boredum decided to read some fanfiction about it, cause why not. Two things, one almost all the fanfic of Summer x Qrow is incredibly sad! Aaanndddd...I already finished reading everything that was marked complete...and about half the ones that were not... Is that something to be proud of? I'm gonna say probably not even though I loved every tortuous second of it. So here I am writing my own stuff because I wanted to see some more upbeat positive things. I also noticed a lack of _Ruby already figured it out_ themes so I wanted to play with that too. This was originally a one shot that went nuts thanks to, ironically, my husband wanting to read more. So this will be a couple chapters. Hope you enjoy! Please review! **

Ruby wandered through the yard trying and failing to catch every little thing that flew past. She was energetic for a six year old but for some reason she was bored today. Yang was busy punching things on the other side of the yard and her father was distractedly cooking dinner. Yang had discovered her semblance the other day and had a habit of catching things on fire right now, her father said it was best if she just left Yang alone for a while until she learns some self control. Ruby was afraid it might take longer than their father thought.

Suddenly straight above her was a black crow with red eyes, it glided down to the spot she went to talk to her mother, was the bird visiting her mother too? As quietly as she could she walked over to her mother's grave not wanting her father to notice she had wandered off by herself again. It took her a minute, and she hoped her father wouldn't panic but she could see her mother's grave and...

All thoughts of being quiet quickly left her as she saw her Uncle Qrow sitting by her mother's grave and talking to her like she always did. She was about to shout his name when she realized that her favorite uncle was crying. She wasn't completely sure why but she quickly hid behind a tree as to not disturb her uncle when he was obviously upset. Patiently she listened as he spoke,

"I wish you could see how big our little girl has gotten Summer, she is still the spitting image of you, thank Oum. - your beautiful silver eyes…" Ruby heard her Uncle Qrow gasp as he tried to stop crying. "Every day I wish that I had just settled down like Tai and raised her as my own like we always planned to do together...but without you I don't know if I would have been strong enough...Tai is a good father for Ruby,... way better than I ever could have hoped to be without you there to guide me, loving us... Anyway, Tai is cooking dinner I figure I better go say hi, I-" Ruby heard that he was leaving and quickly ran for the house not catching the last part of Qrow's goodbye to her mother.

Ruby ran as fast as she could to avoid being caught all the while wondering what exactly it was she just heard. She was so distracted by her own thoughts she ran right into her father's legs.

"Whoa Ruby what's got you startled?"

"What? Oh, uh nothing. I was chasing butterflies and ran back so you wouldn't worry!" She lied carefully, not a total lie… right? Crows, butterflies, whatever!

"Ok, why don't you go set the table while I wrangle your sister?"

"Sure thing dad!" She cheered as she bolted into the house.

A few minutes later Yang and their father came back into the house smiling widely.

"Hey Rubes, why'd you set the table for four?" Yang asked slightly confused.

"Its for Uncle Qrow silly!" Ruby realized her mistake the second she looked at her family and saw their confusion.

"When did Qrow get here? Where is he?" Taiyang asked glancing around the house.

"He isn't, I mean he, I don't know, just a feeling he'll show up I guess!" Ruby tried to lie again, she had a pretty positive "feeling" since she had just been snooping on him fifteen minutes ago, but they didn't need to know that.

Ruby still wasn't sure what exactly it was she had heard anyway. Ruby didn't even know Uncle Qrow had a daughter. Uncle Qrow made it sound like _she_ was his daughter. That can't be possible right? Ruby resigned herself to have to pay more attention next time.

Before she could figure out when the next time would be the man in question waltzed in the door smiling.

"What's everyone standing around for?" he asked watching as Tai and Yang stared at Ruby and Ruby at himself.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Qrow asked trying to ease the tension.

"Ruby can apparently sense when you are coming now." Yang said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Qrow raised a brow looking at Ruby and then at Yang,

"Really? How'd that happen?" Qrow asked as Ruby blushed a bright red.

"I don't know, it was just sort of a feeling? Dad told me to set the table and I set it for four and when Yang asked why I said because you were coming but I don't really know how I knew you were coming!" Ruby screeched out her answer so rapidly she could barely breath.

"Hey, kiddo its ok, take a breath will ya? Hey maybe you have tapped into your semblance or something? Who knows, the point is I'm here and I smell your father's famous sticky buns so let's eat! I'm starved!"

Thankfully for Ruby everyone else took their seats and the night continued on like every other family dinner, give or take an extra explosion or two thanks to Yang showing off her new semblance.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a really short chapter mostly for Ruby's sake. The next one will be better!**

About five months later Ruby saw the red eyed crow again. Ruby debated against following the bird again but she wanted answers, answers that only her mother's grave seemed to have.

Ruby crept up the pathway careful not to alert her Uncle, if he was even there. Ruby was just about to start questioning her own logic of following random crows when sure enough her Uncle Qrow was already seated and talking to Summer's headstone.

" - the size of the Beowulf I fought this week Summer it was massive! Nothing really new going on otherwise, following leads collecting information, helping Oz. So things are eh. Ruby will be seven next week, can you believe it, seven! Oum, all I can think of is how small she was the first time I held her... Time flys, hehe flys… ugh even my jokes are starting to sound like Tai's! Anyway I got her a hood for her birthday, it looks similar to yours, but red like mine. I hope she likes it, I wish you could see our daughter short-stack, you'd be so proud. Yang-"

Ruby had heard enough for the night and quietly snuck back home confused, shocked, frustrated, but strangely at peace in a weird sort of way. Maybe it all just sort of made sense?

Ruby didn't know what to think anymore, ignoring Yang 's yelling to come play video games, she threw herself on her bed to think. How was any of this possible? How was Uncle Qrow her dad and her dad not really her dad?

At first she thought of confronting them but she was almost more afraid of how upset they might be and how things could change for their small little family. For a moment she imagined forgetting the whole thing and pretending it never happened but she couldn't turn back now. She would just have to wait until the red eyed crow came back to hear her Unc- Father, tell his secrets to her mother.


	3. Chapter 3

**So I'm a sucker for the fluff so slight OOC here for Qrow but you know what, I totally believe Qrow is a total softy when not hiding behind the booze!**

Four months after her birthday the crow reappeared, but something was wrong this time. The crow was barely able to stay in the air and instead of gliding down gracefully like it normally did it crashed into some bushes.

Ruby jumped up from staring out her bedroom window and ran as fast as she could to the bushes the poor bird fell in.

Ruby started digging around and just as she thought she had the wrong bush her real dad was sprawled on his back bleeding heavily from his side.

"DAD!" Ruby screamed as loud as she could running over to his side.

Further in the distance she heard her other dad shout for her.

"Ruby where are you?!" not even sure which one she was screaming for all she could do was keep screaming for her dad.

"DAD!" Ruby wasn't sure what to do but she knew she had to stop the bleeding, using her own cloak she tried holding it against his side. Thankfully the man who was raising her found her quickly.

"Ruby what's - shit! Qrow! What happened?" Tai asked no one in particular. Ruby answered anyway,

"I don't know I saw-" Ruby wasn't sure what to tell her father of the bird she kept seeing and now it was nowhere in sight, maybe the bird really was a semblance of some kind? "I f-felt something and I saw s-something crash in the bushes and then I found Un-Uncle Qrow like this!" Ruby stammered through tears she hadn't even realized she was crying.

"That's great Ruby, help me sit Uncle Qrow up and I'll carry him inside."

"But he hasn't woke up yet!"

"That's why I'm carrying him." Tai said as they pushed the man up and Tai pulled an arm over his shoulder. "Ruby keep putting pressure on his side while we walk ok?"

"Ok." Ruby had to walk on her toes to continue to push on her dad's bleeding right side. The walk inside seemed to take hours but finally they managed to get Qrow onto the couch.

"Yang! Get me the first aid kit!" Tai yelled into the house.

"Why?"

"Now! Yang!" Yang bolted down the stairs with the first aid kit and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of her Uncle bleeding out on their couch.

It was one of the longest nights of the girls young lives as they helped patch up their Uncle and wait for him to regain consciousness. So far he had only woken up once, he blinked at the three of them, smiled and fell back to sleep.

Eventually the girls were told to try and go get some sleep.

Ruby laid there in her bed thinking about what a close call today had been. Absently she wondered if her red eyed crow was okay, wherever it had gone, and thanked it for always showing her the way to her father.

That was another thing she had to think about, should she keep calling her Uncle her Dad and her Dad her Uncle? They obviously didn't want things to change if they never told her, but why all the secrets? Why didn't her father want her as a daughter instead of a niece?

She realized early on in her musing that if her fathers didn't want her to know the truth she wouldn't let them know that she had already figured it out. She would pretend that Her Dad was her Uncle and Her Uncle was her father until they told her otherwise.

Her mind could have run in circles for years with all the questions she still had but she figured that if her mother was the only one that would be getting answers she would just wait until her bird came back to tell her that her Uncle Qrow was nearby.

An hour after Yang finally fell asleep, Ruby gave up on trying. After two hours she decided to make sure that both of her dad's were ok and quickly snuck down the stairs, clutching her Grim plushy.

She made it about halfway when she saw that her dad was talking to her Uncle Qrow as he slept.

"- I can't even imagine how long it would have taken me to find you if Ruby's semblance hadn't sensed you-" Ruby winced as she realized that was another thing she'd have to lie about.

"Or worse, if the girls had wandered off and found your corpse instead! You moron! Why do you keep almost getting yourself killed?! Ruby already lost one parent do you want her to lose the other and have her not even know!?" Ruby was shocked she had never heard her dad shout like that before. Tai shook his head sighing, glancing at the kitchen he looked at the clock realizing the late hour.

"Alright, I'm going to get some sleep, don't move asshole! The drugs I gave you should keep you knocked out for at least six hours, I hope. Knowing your liver you'll burn through it all in ten minutes, idiot. Holler if you need me jerk." Tai walked away not noticing his youngest still hiding on the staircase.

Once the door to her father's room was closed Ruby snuck to the couch to check on her uncle.

He was breathing better than he was earlier when she found him so that was a good sign. He also looked a lot more comfortable now laying on his left side, his wound was in full view making Ruby whimper in sympathy.

Shockingly the sound managed to wake him up startling Ruby as two bright red eyes stared at her.

"Hey Petal, are you ok?" she had never heard her uncle speak so softly to her. In an instant she went from being upset that they were lying to her to just happy they were all alive.

"You are the one who got hurt."

Qrow looked down at his side as if surprised to see that he was injured.

"Wow, I wonder what your mom gave me cause I don't feel a thing! Is that why you are upset Petal? Because I got hurt?" Ruby wondered why her dad kept calling her Petal and assumed that the drugs her father had given him were really strong because he couldn't even remember that her mom was dead! Assuming he wouldn't remember this anyway Ruby decided to just ask, at least this once.

"Hey daddy, why do you call me Petal?" Qrow made a funny sort of smile as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Cause you are my little rose, just like your mother. Why don't you get to bed Ruby? I'll be fine in the morning." Ruby glanced up the stairs and then back to her dad, thinking this might be her only chance,

"Can I sleep next to you instead? I promise I won't hurt you further." she asked in a smaller voice then she meant to. Qrow smiled lifting his right arm as her sign to crawl on up.

Thankfully, snuggled together they both managed to get some sleep, small smiles on each of their faces.


	4. Chapter 4

Tai wasn't sure what to think when he walked into the living room and found the unknown father daughter duo cuddled up on the couch together fast asleep. Knowing he'd have to move Ruby before Qrow woke up and panicked, Tai quickly took a few pictures with his scroll knowing Qrow would treasure them later.

Gently picking up his youngest he cradled her against his chest as he carried her back to her own bed.

"Daddy?"

"Ya sweety?"

"Uncle Qrow okay?"

"Ya baby he'll be fine?"

"Good. Daddy?"

"Ya?"

"What's for breakfast?" Tai laughed.

"We'll see what I can whip up." Tai walked out of the room and back down the stairs letting the girls sleep just a little bit longer.

"Qrow time to get up." He called gently, seeing no response he tried again.

"Hey asshole, get up!" knowing it was cruel he knew the next one would wake him up no matter how drugged up he still was.

"Qrow! Your daughter is about to be eaten by an Ursa!" Tai jumped back as Qrow shot off the couch and assumed a fighting stance. He quickly winced as the stitches in his side pulled slightly.

Glancing around he realized he'd been had.

"What the hell Tai!"

"Serves you right dumbass, you traumatized the girls and nearly got yourself killed! Again! What do you have to say for yourself?" Recalling the day before Qrow looked shocked to even be standing.

"I'm sorry Tai, how'd you find me anyway? I thought I had the strength to walk so I crashed in the bushes but passed out on impact."

"I know, Ruby sensed you and saw something crash in the bushes and ran outside to check it out. I didn't even notice she went out until she started screaming." Qrow looked mortified and Tai knew it.

"Qrow, I think you need to take it slow for a bit. Maybe it's time you-"

"Don't Tai. You know it's dangerous if I stay."

"It's dangerous if you leave! Look, let's just make breakfast and talk about this later, ok?"

"Fine."

"Good you start cooking I'm going to go change and wake the girls." Tai didn't even wait for a reply as he headed to his room. Barely ten minutes later he was headed back up the stairs to wake his daughters. He started with Ruby knowing she'd be the easiest.

"Ruby, it's time to wake up!" he didn't even have to shout, she just rolled over and smiled at him.

"Hey sweety, can you do me a favor today?" Ruby nodded, "Can you, can you talk to your Uncle Qrow?" Ruby's eyes grew wide, "Can you and Yang think of a reason to make Uncle Qrow stay with us for a while? I know its a lot to ask of you, but he never listens to me." Tai knew he was being unfair but that man was missing out on so much of his daughter's life.

"I can do that daddy."

"I know you can sweety." Tai ruffled her hair smiling, "Now, do you think you can help me wake your sister?" Ruby laughed.

"Nope!" Ruby shouted as she jumped off her bed and ran around the room searching for her clothes and hood.

She was already halfway down the stairs when she heard the sound of her father trying to wrestle Yang out of bed.

Smiling widely she ran down stairs in search of her uncle.

Ruby was surprised when she couldn't find him on the couch, she started to panic when she couldn't find him in the kitchen or the bathroom. Hoping she was wrong she looked outside and sure enough saw her crow circling the barn lazily. Not even sure what she should say or do she ran outside just as the crow dove behind the barn. Just as she turned the corner the cape she knew all too well swished out of sight. Running as fast as she could to stop her dad from leaving she hurled herself into his legs knocking them both to the ground with a loud thud.

Before Qrow could even figure out what it was that had knocked him down Ruby was already screaming that he couldn't leave.

"You can't leave yet! Why do you always leave me here?! Don't you want to stay with us?" Ruby wasn't sure what came over her but she couldn't stand the thought of him leaving and not coming back. She realized through her shouting that she was crying as well. Angry and not really sure why, she started punching at his legs that she was still wrapped around, upset that he was already trying to disappear without saying goodbye.

To say that Qrow was shocked was an understatement. Trying to avoid her little fists punching him as she cried, Qrow managed to reach under her arms and scoop her up into his chest holding her tight. Ruby froze, surprised by the action.

"Ruby, Ruby I'm not leaving yet." he tried to sooth. Her little fists froze mid punch and she looked up at him with wide teary eyes.

"You- You're not?" Qrow was almost ready to cry himself seeing the fear in his little girls eyes.

"I'm not, I'll stay for a while."

"You promise?"

"I promise Ruby."


	5. Chapter 5

And so he stayed. Weeks turned to months and months into years. Ruby was trained in the art of the scythe and wielded it as if it were her birthright. Things were good for the little family and if Ruby was seen following a red eyed crow every once in awhile no one paid it any mind, except for Ruby of course.

As her only means of learning about her family's past, Ruby would still follow the crow to her mother's grave to hear her dad talk about how Ruby was growing and fondly remember days gone by.

There was a time, when Ruby was about ten years old, where she became slightly bitter that she was being kept in the dark but the more she listened to her father cry about his mistakes and regrets of leaving her behind the more she came to understand the man's difficult decisions. Eventually she treated her secret knowledge as common sense, it wasn't some big secret, if you looked hard enough. One day everything would be out in the open and she was willing to wait until they were ready.

At some point Ruby had heard the stories told to her mother so many times that she actually stopped following the crow every time she saw it. Of course when she was feeling down, or just wanted to hear a story she would find her father and she could almost imagine that her mother was still alive, laughing at whatever Qrow had just said and smiling whenever he told a story of something Ruby and Yang had done that week. Ruby realized that Qrow needed this time "alone" with Summer just as much as she did.

Then Ruby was accepted into Beacon, two years early.


	6. Chapter 6

**So this is the final chapter! So at the end of the last chapter Ruby was accepted to Beacon, we all know what happens after that so this last chapter starts in Season 5 episode 8 (I think) where Ozpin explains the story of the maidens, and all that and how he used magic to give Qrow and Raven the power to become birds. So I highly recommend re-watching that scene and then reading this, it's a little different for obvious reasons but I think you can follow along well enough. Enjoy!**

"No more secrets, no more half truths, no more lies." Yang was still furious, Ruby could tell. Yang put on a good game but Ruby knew it would take a lot longer then she let on to fully recover, if she ever did. We lost Pyrrha and Penny, Yang lost her arm, and countless others their lives, for this? For magic? Part of Ruby wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all, Ozpin, Oscar, Maidens, misfortune and turning people into birds?! As soon as her father and former headmaster had explained it she almost laughed at the craziness of it all, and then it clicked, and she almost laughed at how stupid her father had been all these years!

That damn Qrow she'd been following for years to guide her to her father had been her father all along. Did that mean that he knew all along that she'd been watching him? Did he know that she had been listening the whole time? If he did, why couldn't he just tell her to her face?

Suddenly an anger she hadn't felt in years crept back up on her. The bitterness of so many secrets left a sour taste in her mouth. She wasn't sure what was real anymore and she hated the feeling of being so far out of the loop for so long. Had Professor Ozpin known the truth of her birth the whole time too?

She watched as Qrow and Ozpin, in Oscar's body, looked at eachother, eyes asking what more they should say. She glanced at what was left of team JNPR and what was slowly coming back together of team RWBY, there was more and they all knew it, but they had, had enough for one night, her teams needed their sleep. Ruby on the other hand wasn't quite ready to turn in just yet.

"I think we all need to get some sleep and think about everything we just learned. We'll all be here in the morning so lets just try to relax." she said turning to her team, she waited until they all started to walk away before turning to her dad, "Uncle Qrow, can I talk to you for a second?" She asked but her tone said it wasn't really a question. Thankfully, he gestured her over to his room, holding the door open for her as she walked in ahead of him. The door had barely clicked shut before she turned on him.

Unsure of where to start she blurted the first thing that came to mind,

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" she was shocked at how calm she sounded when she felt anything but. There was a war raging in her father's eyes as he looked at her almost as if he couldn't even see her, almost as if...as if he was seeing Summer and debating what to say. Ruby sighed knowing he wouldn't say anything at all unless she dragged it out of him.

"Do you remember when I was six and my 'semblance' told me you were coming home for dinner?" Qrow's head shot up looking at Ruby completely confused by her train of thought.

"Ya, you set the table for four because you somehow knew I was coming. I haven't thought about that in a while, why bring that up? What does that have to do with-" Ruby cut him off before he could finish.

"I learned tonight that it was never really a semblance of any kind, actually I'm surprised you and Tai never questioned it when we figured out that my real semblance was speed." Ruby mumbled mostly to herself, missing Qrow's eye twitch when she said Tai instead of Dad.

"Ruby, I'm not sure I-" again she cut him off.

"That 'semblance' was really a crow that I would follow around until it lead me where I wanted to go. The crow had bright red eyes, just like yours." Ruby said giving her father a pointed look as his mouth fell open slightly, "The first time I followed it, it lead me to my mother's grave, where I found you." Qrow's eyes grew wide, " You told mom you were going to dinner to say hi to everyone. You said a few other things as well...I ran off, confused by what you had said and ran straight into Tai. I lied and told him I'd wandered off and had run back so he wouldn't panic. I lost count of how many times that stupid old bird helped me learn all of your secrets over the years. When I was seven it helped me save your life because you were too stubborn to land at the front door." Ruby shook her head with a laugh that sounded more like a sigh. She glanced up at her father who was looking at her as if the world would shatter if he blinked.

"Do you remember what you called me as you slept there on the couch?" Ruby realized she was starting to cry. There was a soft thump as father slid to the floor not even trying to make it to the furniture. Ruby joined him falling to her knees.

"I thought- I thought that had been a dream. You weren't there when Tai woke me up. You- you called me Daddy -" Qrow didn't know what else to say as the tears started rolling down his face.

"And you called me Petal."

"Ruby I don't- how do I- can you- I've always wanted to-"

"It's ok dad, I love you no matter what, a little bird told me everything I needed to know."

 **I know the ending for this was kinda rushed, but hey this was supposed to be a one shot and now look at the mess I've made! I plan on writing at least three more stories, not related to this one, that have a more positive view on the Qrow/Summer shipdom. Like I said before everything for them is so sad! I need something with happy feels! Anyway hope you enjoy and I look forward to posting more soon!**


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